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Sports
Chet Holmgren scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals playoff series, while the Detroit Pistons defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 111-101 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Chet Holmgren scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, leading the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-90 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals playoff series in the NBA, early Wednesday morning.
The defending champion Thunder remain undefeated in the playoffs, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series after sweeping the Phoenix Suns to start the postseason.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell each added 18 points.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said: "It wasn't a perfect game. There are a lot of playoff games that aren't perfect. The opponent tried to pressure with all their might, but we won an important game even though we weren't at our best."
LeBron James led the Lakers' scorers with 27 points.
The 90 points scored by the Lakers were their lowest total in a playoff game since 2021.
In the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals series, Cade Cunningham scored 23 points and dished out seven assists, while Tobias Harris added 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Detroit Pistons to a 111-101 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Duncan Robinson scored 19 points, and Daniss Jenkins added 12 points for the Pistons, who ended a streak of 12 consecutive playoff losses to the Cavaliers. This was also Detroit's first win in the opening game of a playoff series since defeating the Orlando Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals in May 2008.
Donovan Mitchell scored 23 points, and James Harden added 22 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, for the Cavaliers.
The second game will be played tomorrow, Thursday, before the series moves to Cleveland.
